Circle Mirror Transformation (plot summary)

Annie Baker’s "Circle Mirror Transformation" is an actor’s play. It wouldn’t be surprising if any person who has taken an acting class has played at least one of the games presented in the play. "Circle Mirror Transformation" starts out on the first day of acting class. Like most acting classes, there is one teacher, Marty, and a small group of students. The students are a variety of ages and types – one interesting choice Baker made is making the Marty’s husband, James, a student in the class. The play opens on the group in the first day of class playing a concentration game where the goal is to count to ten one by one without signaling who is going to say what number and when. The group is unable to do it. The play is essentially a compilation of acting games with a few real scenes in between. Throughout the play, a relationship blossoms between two of the students: Theresa and Schultz. They go on a few dates and the next time they are seen in class, it is clear that Theresa isn’t interested anymore and Schultz feels completely the opposite; this results in a break up. There is also the interesting storyline of Lauren, the 16 year old in the class. From one of the first scenes, Marty asks Lauren about a paycheck that was supposed to come through for the class – by the end of the play, the paycheck hasn’t come through and Lauren is still making excuses. It is clear that Lauren’s family has financial problems. The third storyline is between Marty and James. At the beginning, they are seen as the power couple that nobody could beat, and by the end James doesn’t live with Marty anymore and their child isn’t even talking to one of them. Toward the end of the play, they do the counting to ten exercise again and finally get to ten. For the last exercise of the play, Marty asks them to pair up and have a conversation as if they are seeing each other ten years from the present. Schultz and Lauren pair up and begin to have the conversation. As the conversation intensifies, we realize that time has actually forwarded and they are meeting each other ten years later. They admit they have had feelings for each other all along.